Podcast: Personal conversations with modern art’s liveliest minds

In this episode, artist Olivia Fraser offers a personal glimpse inside the incandescent life and art of her great aunt Eileen Agar, a pioneering figure in Surrealism. At once a painter, collagist, photographer, sculptor, hatmaker and more, Eileen Agar moved fluidly between what she called ‘the different facets of my artistic personality’. Her long and vibrant life spanned Buenos Aires, Paris and London, and was enriched by friendships and relationships with other major cultural figures, including Paul Nash, Lee Miller, Henry Moore, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Ezra Pound. In this podcast episode, artist Olivia Fraser remembers Agar as an insatiably imaginative figure whose kaleidoscopic studio was its own work of art. Olivia shares how beachcombing was a powerful source of inspiration for Agar, and how themes of chance and coincidence played into her work. Living through two World Wars, Agar retained an incredible resilience and an innate capacity for joy. She had, in Olivia’s words, an ability ‘to see the surreal in everything’. Out now, 'A Look at My Life' is a new edition of Eileen Agar’s life story in her own words.

In this episode, Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas and Laura Wexler - three of the co-authors of 'Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography' – delve behind the scenes of their groundbreaking book, exploring the genesis of the project and its ambitious aim. They offer up an alternative understanding of photography as something that is inherently collaborative, and explore the countless complex relationships between photographer, subject, viewer, camera and more. This wide-ranging conversation spotlights a revolutionary experiment in portraiture by Frederick Douglass, questions the fixed nature of history, and celebrates where ‘the human spirit collaborates with the camera’. 'Collaboration' is also co-authored by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay and Leigh Raiford.

In this episode, art critic Martin Gayford takes us on a breathtaking journey through five centuries of art history in Venice, exploring masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Peggy Guggenheim’s palazzo, and the kaleidoscopic Venice Biennale. Martin Gayford’s book 'Venice: City of Pictures' takes readers on a visual journey through five centuries of Venetian image making, including works by Titian, Canaletto, Ruskin, Turner, Monet, Manet and more. In this episode, Gayford takes us through the canals and palazzos of this ‘uniquely pictorial’ place, and its many incarnations throughout history. This episode was presented by Eliza Apperly. Intro and outro audio by Eliza Apperly and Benjamin Nash.

Joanna Moorhead’s engrossing new biography 'Surreal Spaces' offers an intimate look at the life and art of her late cousin, the pioneering artist Leonora Carrington. Leonora continually defied the expectations of her family and society, turning away from British upper class life and casting away comfort in the name of freedom, declaring that ‘safety, under any circumstances, is an illusion’. In this episode, we sit down with Joanna to explore the bond she forged with Leonora over five unforgettable years in Mexico City, reflecting on the spaces and locations that infused Leonora’s art. The journey begins with Leonora’s childhood at Crookhey Hall, a gothic, turreted home whose menacing character influenced her early years. We explore her time in Paris, where she held her own in the cafés of Saint-Germain alongside Picasso, Breton, Duchamp and Dali. The conversation moves on to the St-Martin d'Ardèche farmhouse Leonora shared with Max Ernst, with whom she enjoyed a profound romantic and creative bond, and where the two artists embedded art into the fabric of their home. Joanna describes Leonora’s terrifying experiences in a sanatorium in Spain, and finally explores Leonora’s Mexico City home, where she was able to live on her own terms, in ‘the most surreal nation on the planet’.

In this special podcast trilogy, archaeologist and Thames & Hudson author David Miles takes us on an immersive tour of the cromlechs and tombs near his home in France, to explore three themes from the past that shape the preoccupations of our present. Each recorded in a different season, episodes Land, Sky, and Home reflect David Miles’s deep knowledge of archaeology and the natural world, suffused with birdsong and sounds from the landscapes of the Cévennes. Here in the third episode, Home, David visits the ruins of a Copper Age village to examine how our idea of home emerged.

In this special podcast trilogy, archaeologist and Thames & Hudson author David Miles takes us on an immersive tour of the cromlechs and tombs near his home in France, to explore three themes from the past that shape the preoccupations of our present. Each recorded in a different season, episodes Land, Sky, and Home reflect David Miles’s deep knowledge of archaeology and the natural world, suffused with birdsong and sounds from the landscapes of the Cévennes. Here in the second episode, Sky, David encounters a shepherd and a tomb to explore the impact of the heavens on prehistoric social arrangements—and how our modern relationship with the sky needs mending.

In this special podcast trilogy, archaeologist and Thames & Hudson author David Miles takes us on an immersive tour of the cromlechs and tombs near his home in France, to explore three themes from the past that shape the preoccupations of our present. Each recorded in a different season, episodes Land, Sky, and Home reflect David Miles’s deep knowledge of archaeology and the natural world, suffused with birdsong and sounds from the landscapes of the Cévennes. Here in the first episode, Land, David investigates a stone circle, and meets a stonemason, to reflect on how prehistoric land clearances relate to anxieties about environmental degradation today.

Art historian Michael Peppiatt explores his friendship with Francis Bacon, lunch with Lucian Freud, and unforgettable encounters with the likes of Sonia Delaunay and more. Peppiatt reflects on more than fifty years of writing about art, bringing to life his friendships with some of the best-known artists of the modern age. Following a life-changing encounter with Francis Bacon in a Soho pub in 1963, Peppiatt found himself suddenly immersed in the lives of extraordinary artists. Here, Peppiatt describes what it was like to interview Sonia Delaunay in Paris – beginning with her ‘complete denunciation of Picasso’ – and his near-miss of Giacometti, who passed away before Peppiatt could deliver a letter of introduction from Francis Bacon himself. Peppiatt also shares the experience of assembling his new book 'Artists’ Lives', which he likens to planning a dinner party, playing host to some of the biggest personalities in art.

To celebrate the publication of Chloé Catwalk on November 8th, Lou Stoppard and Ayo Ojo explore the fascinating story of one of the world’s most infamous female-led brands.

Writers, artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers and more – creatives of all stripes know the perils of creative demons. Whether it’s self-doubt, fear of failure or procrastination, the challenges can seem insurmountable. In this episode, Richard Holman, author of 'Creative Demons and How to Slay Them', shares unexpected antidotes and practical tips to help unleash your creativity, including surprising techniques from the likes of Michelangelo, Margaret Atwood, Maggi Hambling and more.